FISIF Legislative Update

FISIF board member Tom Willis, owner of Route 66 Diner in Albuquerque, was appointed by Governor Martinez in 2013 to the New Mexico Advisory Council on Workers’ Compensation and Occupational Disease Disablement.  The mission of the council is to monitor the performance of New Mexico’s workers’ compensation system and make recommendations to the Governor, the Legislature and others related to rules, statistical data and legislation.

Additionally, for many years FISIF has been a key player in helping shape New Mexico’s workers’ compensation landscape.  Since the 1990s FISIF has held a seat at the table of the former New Mexico Workers’ Compensation Business and Labor Coalition, as a member of the business caucus.  FISIF not only supported legislation important to our state’s business community, but also played a key role in thwarting legislation that would have had a negative impact on the system and driven up rates for employers.  Labor has since left the coalition but FISIF remains active among a large group of business stakeholders working on common sense “fixes” to our workers’ compensation system.

FISIF and other industry stakeholders are already hard at work preparing for our upcoming 2017 60-day legislative session.

The following items are on our agenda:

• Third-party reimbursement/recovery for employers
• Limiting disability payments when worker refuses a return-to-work job offer
• Limiting disability benefits when a worker is fired for cause
• Easing of restrictions on communications with health care providers

If you are a FISIF member and would like to get involved in workers’ compensation legislation please contact us.